Weekday mornings, can feel so daunting, never like those commercials or movies where the children come bounding into the kitchen already dressed, sit down gratefully to a table filled with gorgeous, prepared food, get up (when finished) to put their dishes in the sink and fill their own backpacks.  Nope, not in my house, I will save you a wince and not attempt to paint a picture of our dysfunctional mornings.   Don’t get me wrong my kids are very happy little humans, they love their Eggo waffles and scrambled eggs, I would never give up their mid-kitchen dance parties for anything.  That said, getting them out the door on time for school is truly a challenge!  For now, we am working with what we’ve got, trying to bring some semblance of organization and calm to our chaotic little house.  Eventually, I would like to land somewhere a little closer to the phony, perfectly lit kitchen with everything in place and grateful smiling faces kissing me on the cheek as they bound out the door…I do believe in miracles.

To be fair, my own preparedness, without a doubt, weighs into the equation.  I’ve tried a number of tactics, some work, some do NOT.  I love gleaning ideas from other moms, although, in my opinion, no single formula works equally well for every family.  Here are a few things I’ve tried to help me get to a calmer more organized and punctual place everyday:

Meditation:

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve seen positive results in my own psyche with the use of meditation, of the apps I’ve tried and there are quite a few out there, Headspace was the most user friendly.  I’d be lying if I said it’s as simple as getting up every morning and doing it, I’ve had to force myself to have a consistent practice, which is really the only way you see results.  My vision for the perfect setting would be in a gorgeous sun-porch or 4 season room, like this stunning vaulted design,  that is drenched in sunlight, I’m sitting on a Tulum-esque towel and I’m one with my practice!   This room is beyond dreamy from The Lily Pad Cottage:

Outfit planning (the night before):

I’ve found that picking out my own clothes, as well as my girl’s outfits the night before is clutch.  Now that my girls are getting a little older and they each have their own style my “picks” are often met with resistance.   Recently, I took the kids to JCrew – Crewcuts for a “shopping spree” as they had been given gift certificates.  They each picked outfits that fit their unique style, despite the chaos of taking three girls under 10 shopping, it showed them the potential of independence with regard to getting dressed.

My oldest snagged these shorts in neon flame and paired it with this adorable flutter sleeved t-shirt and a similar long sleeve version, she also bought a pair of mesh tretorn sneaks.   My middle child who hits all the markers for a sterotypical middle childed, insisted on these metallic gold leggings, paired with this emoji t-shirt and accessorized with an emoji necklace and the matching coin purse, finishing her look with neon New Balance sneaks.  My 5 year old, “the baby”, who’s birthday we were celebrating, chose the same shorts as her older sister but chose this adorable petal pink peplum t-shirt to go with it.  For her second outfit, I know…yeesh, it was her birthday but seriously, she had to have the silver metallic leggings, this sequined heart t-shirt to match and these sparkly sneaks.

Lunches

Packing lunches the night before is always a solid time saver, we love these bento boxes from Pottery Barn.   I am trying to get into the habit of washing and bagging fruit as soon as I get home from the grocery store, these reusable baggies are awesome.

Cheaters

Dry Shampoo is the holy grail to my morning.  Most mornings it is as close as I get to clean hair, I actually love the way my hair looks a little dirty with Bastise Dry Shampoo (the best and I’ve tried every dry shampoo that has ever crossed my path:)) it adds the perfect amount of much needed volume.  I have my eye on this curling iron, it automatically grabs your hair and curls it perfectly with out it snagging like other automatic wands.

Ok, that is all for now.  If you have any tried and true morning time savers, I am all ears.

xoxo

D